by Dawn Tamayo
“Then your hotel is down this road,” he said turning into a small road lined with coconut trees, “and Hollywood beach is just at the end of this road.”
“Thank you, Ramone.” Victoria said quickly checking the man’s name on his card.
The taxi came to a stop outside a little hotel looking like a collection of old style classical beach apartments. It wasn’t anything like the huge new glass fronted hotels Victoria had passed on her way from the airport, but it looked clean enough and it was right next to the sea front which was what she really wanted - she had managed to negotiate a good rate otherwise if Ben Churchill had his way she would have been in a bed and breakfast in the middle of Miami Central and she hadn’t come all the way to Miami, work or not, to not be by the sea.
As Victoria got out of the taxi she smelt the salty sea air on the warm night breeze and smiled. Now this was more like it, this is what she needed.
“You want me to take your bag inside for you?” Ramone asked interrupting her thoughts.
“No thanks, I’m good from here.” Victoria said as she handed some dollars to him and took her suitcase.
“No problem, but if you need me you give Ramone a call.”
Victoria laughed as he drove off. If Ramone was anything to go by then people really were as friendly as they seemed in the American movies. She pulled her suitcase along behind her and headed into the cosy hotel reception, she planned on getting her case safely stowed in her hotel room and then head off to the beach promenade to go for a long walk to blow away the cobwebs in her mind.
Victoria woke up as the sun shone through a tiny gap in the curtain. She turned over and looked at her watch on the night stand next to her bed and she couldn’t believe it was ten o’clock already. Her stomach grumbled confirming it was indeed way past breakfast time and she guessed the little restaurant in her hotel would have finished its breakfast run by now. She flopped back onto her pillow and couldn’t believe how well she had slept. Victoria imagined she would have been tossing and turning all night like she had been during her last night in London - thoughts of what could have been running through her mind whilst the unfamiliar feel of an empty bed next to her only added to the emptiness in her heart. But not last night. After a long walk along the Hollywood Beach promenade with an iced strawberry daiquiri in hand, listening to its serene sounds of the night time waves crashing against the sand, she had finally returned to her hotel room and fallen into bed at midnight. Victoria counted that it would have been the middle of the afternoon in England by now considering they were five hours ahead of Miami time and her stomach rumbled once again just for good measure. She pulled herself up from her bed and walked across to the curtains. Pulling them open she squinted against the bright sunshine, but then let the warmth of its rays wash over her before turning around and heading to the bathroom. She planned on having a quick shower and dressing for the beach with a quick stop for breakfast, well brunch now, at one of the little beach front cafés on her way.
Victoria was relaxed when her phone rang interrupting her tranquillity, and she grabbed for it in her beach bag without lifting her head off her beach-towel. She answered it and squinted when she didn’t recognise the female voice to begin with.
“Yes this is Victoria. Sorry, who is this again, I missed your name?”
“It’s Andrea, Jake Cumberland’s personal assistant.”
“Oh sorry Andrea. Hi, how are you?” That caught Victoria’s attention enough to pull her away from her sunbathing and she sat upright putting her mind into work mode.
“No problem. Look Jake has asked me to call you and check what time you are flying in tomorrow night and arrange for a car to pick you up from the airport.”
Victoria squinted against the sun, it was Saturday. What was his personal assistant doing at work on a Saturday? “Oh no don’t worry about that, I’m already here in Miami. I wanted to have a couple of days here before I started work so I took an earlier flight - I arrived last night.”
“Oh I see.”
Victoria could vaguely hear Andrea say something to someone, but it wasn’t clear and she couldn’t make out what it was. “Don’t worry Andrea I will be there bright and early on Monday morning. I was planning on heading straight into Jake’s office first thing but if he would rather I went to your marketing department first then can you let me know?”
“No that’s fine. Actually can you hold on a minute, Jake’s here and he would like to have a word with you.”
Victoria waited for a moment hearing muffled voices, obviously Andrea had put her hand over the phone rather than putting her on hold and then Jake’s voice came through the phone deep and smooth. “Hey you’re here already! Andrea just told me you got in last night?” Jake sounded bright and friendly, “If you haven’t got anything planned how about I show you a bit of Miami later?”
Victoria swallowed hard as Jake’s deep tones consumed her and something in her stomach did a full on somersault. “Oh I don’t want to be any bother, don’t worry I can find my way around.” Victoria hadn’t anticipated seeing Jake before Monday morning and the thought of it flustered her.
“No way, you want me to pick you up or you want to meet me somewhere?”
“You really don’t take no for an answer do you?” She laughed.
“Nope.” Jake chuckled down the line.
“Okay, what time?”
“Let’s say seven thirty. Do you want me to come and get you? Where are you staying?”
“No that’s okay, I will come and meet you. Where are we going?”
“Meet me at a restaurant called the Pelican on Ocean Drive, South Beach. We’ll have some dinner and then I’ll take you to see the famous Miami South Beach night life.”
“Alright Jake, I’ll see you at the Pelican at seven thirty.”
“Alright Victoria I’ll see you then.” He mimicked and then put the phone down.
Victoria sat looking at the phone in her hand. She didn’t know what she had expected but that hadn’t been it! In all her expectations of leaving London and starting a great new marketing project, and forming new work relationships in Miami, not one time had she imagined herself dining with Jake Cumberland at South Beach the night after she arrived in Miami, or at any other point for that matter! She was in Miami for work and that was all. But the offer of a night out with a local Miamian, experiencing the famous Miami nightlife, was far too good to turn down. And what a local she was going to be out with - a ridiculously good-looking, buff, multi-millionaire! Victoria blew out a puff of air and flopped back down on her towel, immediately regretting it as the sand underneath wasn’t as soft as it looked. She looked at the time on her phone, yes she still had time for a bit more sunbathing before she needed to head back to her hotel to get ready, and she let her mind relax once again to the sound of the sea.
Victoria’s taxi drove along the length of Ocean Drive as she marvelled at the colourful restaurants and buildings as they passed by. Just when she was beginning to think the driver had no idea where the restaurant was and the promenade was going to end, he stopped abruptly and motioned to the restaurant in front with a clustering of white wooden tables and chairs with huge dark blue parasols. Victoria paid the driver and got out.
Standing still on the pavement Victoria took in her surroundings, she was in no hurry. She had deliberately arrived fifteen minutes early - she might have been off the work-clock now but Jake was still a potential business client and she needed to make a good impression, and being late would not have been a good start in her book.
Victoria turned her back on the restaurant to look across Ocean Drive, out to the white sand and the crystal blue sea stretching back as far as the eye could see. It was still hot but she could feel the strength of the sun easing now as the day was coming to a close. Before coming out tonight she had spent a long time in front of the wardrobe holding what limited selection of clothes she had bought with her, not knowing what to wear. Finally she settled on a simple but stylish soft cot
ton multi-coloured pencil strap sundress which ended just above her knees, and a little short sleeved sky blue cardigan which she draped over her arm. She finished off her look with a pair of red strappy high heeled sandals and a matching red bag. She liked what she was wearing, it said simple yet fun, and sexy, but not trashy. Victoria turned back to the restaurant and pushed her long dark red hair back as it hung loose over her shoulders and walked towards one of the waiters.
The waiter approached Victoria as she made her way through the perfectly spotless group of white wooden tables and chairs on each side of the pavement, “Good evening Señora. Can I get you a table?”
Victoria hesitated, she realised she didn’t know if Jake would have booked a table, and if so would he even have used his real name knowing that a lot of famous people preferred to stay anonymous when they were booking tables in hope of actually enjoying a night out without the paparazzi finding out where they were. But then again she was in Miami, and from what she saw on the television and heard through the grapevine, it was swarming with famous people so maybe it was something they didn’t need to think about so much here.
“Yes please. I’m meeting someone here but I am not sure if he’s already booked a table.”
“That’s okay, this lovely lady is waiting for me.” Victoria heard a now all too familiar voice call from behind her and she turned around to see Jake swiftly walking towards her.
Victoria’s jaw dropped as she watched Jake coming closer - his dark jacket flapped open in the evening breeze and his white linen shirt had a couple of buttons open at his neck exposing a teasingly small amount of golden skin. Her eyes travelled down to the belt buckle around his black jeans as the lights from the restaurant reflected off the silver metal, and then she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the contours of his muscular legs right down to his brown loafers. Quickly she realised she was staring and pulled her eyes back up to his face but as quickly as she did she almost wished she hadn’t. If Jake looked handsome in England then he was mind-blowingly gorgeous here in Miami. She assumed he had spent a bit of time out in the sun since returning to Miami, and his already lightly sun-kissed skin now had a distinct suntan making his clear blue eyes stand out even more, they were amazingly intense.
In just a few large strides Jake caught up with Victoria and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek which took her aback. Again this was something she had not imagined – she was all ready to shake hands but instead she was thrown off track by his kiss on her cheek!
“Bienvenido a Miami. I can see you have already been enjoying our sun.” Jake stood back and looked Victoria over from head to toe and smiled. Then looking quickly over her shoulder he said, “Look can you just give me a minute, I just need to say hello to someone. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“No problem.”
“Grab this table here and I’ll be back in a minute.” Jake said as he pulled out a chair for Victoria to sit down and headed up the small set of steps into the bright lights of the restaurant.
“Can I get you a drink while you wait?” The waiter asked.
“Yes please, a mojito. I hear you do good ones here.” Victoria smiled as she looked across at the sun which was now beginning to lower in the sky.
“We certainly do. One Mojito coming right up.” He said as he walked away.
True to his word Jake had only been gone a few minutes before Victoria saw him walk back out of the restaurant and down the few steps to their outside table. He stopped momentarily as he saw someone else he knew. He went over and shook hands with a man and greeted the man’s wife with a kiss on the cheek. Victoria couldn’t hear what he said, but she could see Jake pointing her out to his friends and then bid them farewell. Finally he was walking back to her table and she smiled as she watched him approach looking like someone out of an Armani advertisement!
Jake pulled out the chair across the table from Victoria and quickly whipped off his jacket resting it across the backrest of his chair as he sat down.
“I am really sorry about that. My friend owns this place and if he knows I am here he would come out to see me, and I know he is really busy so I wanted to just go in and say ‘hi’.”
“Don’t worry. I am just very grateful you made the time to show me some of Miami. I’m sure I will find it very useful for whatever campaigns you have coming up over the next few weeks.” Victoria said trying to sound as professional as she could, because no matter what she had just gone through personally, she still had a job to do and even though she was sitting across a dinner table from a deliciously good-looking man, this was still business and she needed to remain professional.
“Wow, let me stop you right there.” Jake put up his hand and looked serious.
Victoria could sense the change in him immediately.
“I work hard and take very little time off. I didn’t invite you out here tonight for work. I want to show someone new to Miami my home city and the place I love. So you can drop the miss-marketing-woman bit for one night and forget I am the boss. Tonight we are just two people having a bit of fun, and I’m going to show you some of Miami. Okay?” He looked at Victoria intently, he wasn’t joking.
When Jake heard Victoria was here in Miami already he couldn’t wait to see her again, if only to see if she still had that amazing sparkle he saw that day at the fete in England. Since that day in Gloucester he hadn’t stopped thinking about Victoria or her beautiful bright red hair. She had been wearing tight white jeans which had nearly given him a heart attack by the end of the day, and the touch of her skin had send the nerve endings of his fingers into overdrive. He knew he had behaved totally inappropriately by keeping hold of her hand for far longer than necessary and for putting his arm around her at every opportunity, and to be honest he had been quite surprised she hadn’t pushed him away and told him to get lost! But as long as she wasn’t pushing him away then that was just fine with him. He had been disappointed when she didn’t take up his offer for dinner, but he wasn’t surprised considering she was engaged. However, when Victoria telephoned him and asked to meet, even though he knew there was no hope of anything more than a business conversation, he couldn’t resist seeing her again. He’d had so many requests for meetings with advertising and marketing companies he didn’t even want to keep count, but when Victoria asked to speak to him about business he was not about to say “no”. And an evening spent in Victoria’s company had only served to wet his appetite more! Her boss sounded like an absolute jerk, like so many other jerks he had met, and considering her excellent job of organising the fete and accommodating his promotional crew at the last minute he decided pretty much straight away that he was going to give his British marketing and advertising business to Churchill, Turnbull and French on a trial basis, just as long as Victoria played a major part in it. He could see her worth – apart from thinking she was incredibly sexy even before she walked into his hotel suite that morning when he was barely half awake and blew him away in her work suit that looked to him, and any other red-blooded male, like her ample breasts were going to burst out of it at any moment, he knew she had a great business brain and he loved that.
Victoria broke into his thoughts.
“As much as I would really like that Jake we did agree that I was coming here strictly for business and nothing else.” She cringed, she didn’t know quite what he was saying and she didn’t want to lead him on, or let him think she was the kind of woman to go for a one night stand or sleep with the boss. If not for her own sanity alone she needed to make sure they were both on the same page, and Jake ‘the playboy’ didn’t start thinking she was going to fall for his amazing charms! Her life was far too much of a mess to let the only stable thing in it, her job, get screwed up too!
“Hey, I think you gave my ego a big enough bashing back there in London. I got the message okay, but we can be friends can’t we? So how about out of office hours we are friends, just friends, and that way we can both enjoy ourselves without the other one getting the wrong idea?”
“So, what’s that you’re drinking? Mojito?” And with that Jake’s serious mood had gone and his relaxed smile was back.
She nodded.
“Great, I love mojitos. Javier!” Jake called to the waiter nearby, “Bring us a pitcher of mojito and then we will be ready to order.”
Victoria looked down at the menu realising she hadn’t actually decided what she wanted and then out the corner of her eye she spotted a waiter passing by carrying a plate of the biggest and most elegant hamburger she had ever seen.
“Do you know what you want to eat?” Jake asked.
“That!” Victoria laughed as Jake followed her line of sight to the plate of lavishly decorated burger and fries.
“I bring you to a restaurant on the sea front and you want a burger and fries?” he said in mock horror.
“Not just any burger and fries! Real American burger and fries, and look at it! You can hardly call that ordinary by any standards. It’s a work of art!”
Jake laughed, he was only teasing. He didn’t care what she wanted, as far as he was concerned she could have anything she wanted as long as it made her smile the way she was now, and he marvelled at her dark brown eyes as they sparkled.
“No problem.” He said and ordered their food as Javier put down their pitcher of Mojito.
Jake reached across the table to fill up Victoria’s glass and then poured the iced cocktail into his own.
“So what do you think of Miami so far? What did you do last night and today?”
“Well I haven’t seen much of it yet, but so far so good. The beach is wonderful, if I lived here I wouldn’t be able to pull myself away from it. I don’t know how anyone gets any work done here.”